Father Doesn’t Understand His Daughter’s Heart(6)

Yeonhwa pulled out the kitchen knife she had roughly stabbed into the table and moved with steps full of irritation as if trying to go outside the cabin.

And as Yeonhwa walking like that approached them standing by the door, the five involuntarily stepped aside even though they knew they wouldn’t collide.

Yeonhwa’s face was so scary that they couldn’t help but step aside.

However, before Yeonhwa, who had walked through the five who had stepped aside, could open the door, Aria’s low voice held her back.

<Yeonhwa, sit down.>

<No.>

<I won’t say it twice. Yeonhwa, sit down right now.>

<I said no!>

If Aria’s usual voice was one that only felt cold, the voice Aria was making now was like one filled with deep anger that had been suppressed.

But Yeonhwa must have been quite irritated too, as she immediately got angry at Aria’s order and put her hand on the doorknob, and the moment Yeonhwa tried to turn the doorknob.

Swish─── Thunk!!!

A knife flew and stuck into the door, narrowly missing Yeonhwa’s cheek.

It was a dangerous warning that would have immediately drawn blood if there had been even a slight error. At this, when Yeonhwa turned only her head to look at Aria, Aria glared at her as she stood up from her seat.

<I’m sure I said I wouldn’t say it twice. You’re being quite insolent today.>

<Wait…! Sister! Calm down for now!>

<Yeah, I’m being insolent, so what? Want to really fight once?>

<Yeonhwa, you too! Can’t you do something about that way of talking?!>

Not knowing Aria would go as far as throwing a knife, Yujia, who had been quietly observing among the three, jumped up in surprise and tried to hold back Aria who was gritting her teeth.

And after barely holding Aria back, this time at the sparks flying from Yeonhwa’s side, Yujia shouted at Yeonhwa while blocking Aria’s front with her whole body.

Seeing such an urgent appearance, it seemed that verbal fights were frequent usually, but cases going as far as physical force like this must have been very rare.

Yujia, who stood between Aria and Yeonhwa, was literally dripping with cold sweat.

“Oh…! Is Instructor Yeonhwa going to fight with Professor Aria? This is my first time seeing this?”

“That’s right… Could we really see those two fighting?”

“Hey, you people…”

However, while Yujia was directly trying to stop the fight and sweating profusely, Arin and Kana, watching from the perspective of readers inside the barrier, were already watching the situation with shining eyes.

And Riana, seeing the two so nonchalant beside her, grabbed her forehead.

The professors they knew were in a situation just before fighting, yet they had such a reaction.

Of course, they were watching a story of the past and couldn’t get involved themselves, so it was understandable to relax a bit and enjoy it, but hadn’t they relaxed too much?

Riana tried to make the two tense up again at least minimally, but fortunately, there was someone who poured cold water on the heated atmosphere just before the explosive situation erupted.

<Big sister Aria, stop there. And Yeonhwa, you’re too excited too. Take it easy. If you go any further, Meiyel and I will get angry too.>

<Well… that’s true… might get angry…>

Kama said, opening her eyes that had been gently closed.

At those words, Aria and Yeonhwa, who Yujia had been holding back, seemed to calm down a little as they slightly dropped their shoulders, and Meiyel, who was also mentioned by Kama, looked alternately at the two with half-closed eyes.

There was a lot of annoyed emotion sleeping in those eyes, but there was also a will that could change at any time mixed in, which could completely hold back the two who had calmed down at Kama’s words.

But it was only calming them down.

As it hadn’t completely suppressed their emotions, Yeonhwa, who still had irritation remaining, crumpled the chef’s hat she had been wearing and threw it on the floor.

<Then how long are we supposed to endure! That father appears once every 10 days, doesn’t even look at us properly and just makes us fight monsters! Every time he makes us fight, we barely survive near-death situations several times! And then he dumps us here like throwing us in a trash can! There’s not even a grain of the millet-sized affection he gave at first anymore!! I said I’d kill him because I can’t stand it anymore!!!>

Yeonhwa’s words shot out rapidly as if she was pouring out all her emotions.

And those words must have all been true, as everyone just looked at Yeonhwa without anyone denying her words.

He only comes to see us when needed, uses us only where needed, and abandons us when no longer needed. How is this treatment any different from objects placed in a junkyard?

Yeonhwa was clenching her fist so tightly that a few drops of thin blood dripped from her hand.

Those drops of blood falling along her thin hand, staining the wooden floor reddish-brown. When silence momentarily descended at Yeonhwa’s drops of blood, the one who stood up was a truly unexpected person.

<Yes… There was nothing wrong with what you said, Yeonhwa…>

The one who stood up was none other than Meiyel.

She stood up, leaning on her staff, as she opened her slowly blinking eyes.

Then Aria, Yujia, and Yeonhwa’s gazes turned to Meiyel.

Even Kama seemed surprised that Meiyel would step in, as she watched Meiyel’s actions with a slightly surprised look.

And amidst such gazes, Meiyel still spoke in a drawling voice, but with eyes that were uniquely shining, she faced Yeonhwa and asked:

<But even if you’re angry… how are you going to kill him…? You know too… that we can’t kill Father…>

<That’s right, you know that no matter what we do here, we can’t reach Father anyway, Yeonhwa.>

We can’t kill Father anyway. Meiyel told Yeonhwa the cold reality that couldn’t be overcome no matter how angry she was, and asked.

Following that, Yujia agreed, adding strength to Meiyel’s words.

Although on the surface it seemed like they were just trying to inform her of reality, their words were clearly intended to stop her, and at this, Yeonhwa bit her lip for a moment.

Yeonhwa only moved her mouth as if hesitating to speak, as if pondering something, or more precisely, as if hesitating to speak.

But soon, as if she had made up her mind completely, Yeonhwa opened her tightly clenched fist.

<Iriel.>

“Ah?”

<What?>

At the name Yeonhwa uttered, Pina’s voice inside the barrier and Aria’s voice outside the barrier overlapped for a moment.

For some unknown reason, Iriel was the goddess Pina served as a priestess of the temple, so she couldn’t help but utter a short sound.

<That one would surely know a way to reach where Father is. So I’ll go to Iriel and…>

<No.>

And while Pina was dumbfounded as the name of the goddess she served was mentioned, Aria cut off Yeonhwa’s words before they even finished and answered firmly.

Then Aria glared at Yeonhwa, narrowing her eyes fiercely.

<There’s no need to explain the reason, right? This is the last warning I can give you today, Yeonhwa. Go back to your room right now.>

<Why on earth! What’s wrong with this method…!>

<I’m sorry but… I’m against that method too… Yeonhwa, listen to big sister Aria today…>

<Even big sister Meiyel…>

Yeonhwa tried to rebel against Aria’s semi-forceful order to go back to her room immediately, but before that, Meiyel stepped in to stop Yeonhwa.

Yeonhwa hesitated for a moment, perhaps not expecting Meiyel, who usually maintained a neutral position, to stop her so actively.

However, the next moment, the atmosphere that was going towards Yeonhwa being suppressed was reversed by the voice of one person.

<Yeonhwa, I thought you were just rampaging without a method until now, but unexpectedly you had a thought? If it’s such a method, it wouldn’t be bad to lend my strength, would it?>

<Ka, Kama?>

<What’s wrong, big sister Yujia? You didn’t think I still loved Father just because I was quiet, did you? There’s no way. I’ve been hating Father in my heart too.>

When they turned to where the voice came from, what they saw was Kama sitting in her seat.

Yujia looked at her desperately with eyes saying ‘please don’t,’ as if she might have to stop Kama too, but to this, Kama snorted and got up from her seat with a relaxed face.

Now there was no one left sitting in their seats.

Everyone had stood up, and in the tense atmosphere once again, Kama, who was the last to stand up, slowly walked to Yeonhwa and lightly put her hand on Yeonhwa’s shoulder.

<I don’t want to see my sisters and brothers suffering anymore either. In the first place, I’m sick and tired of Father who thinks of us as mere game pieces.>

<Kama, but that’s because Father had no choice but to…>

<He had no choice? Yes, Father must have thought so. But that doesn’t mean it’s a reason for us not to get angry.>

<Kugh…>

Aria made a frustrated expression at Kama’s words.

In contrast, Yeonhwa, who had been on the verge of defeat until just now, visibly smiled as Kama joined her side, and Shati, who had been watching the entire verbal fight, folded her arms and opened her mouth.

“So now the professors are fighting over whether to kill that person called Father or not?”

“It seems that way.”

Looking at the conversation so far, there’s no other way to think about it.

And the reason for trying to kill Father seemed to be in his treatment of them.

Just from Aria’s past time, which was the very first, it seemed bad enough, but if it was worse than that, it was unimaginable how bad it must have been.

“If it was that hard for them, it’s understandable that they thought of killing Father…”

“We said he’s a person who deserves to die because we’re strangers to that Father person, but for the professors who are his daughters to say such things…”

How bad must that person called Father’s misdeeds have been?

Even though it wasn’t their own business, their expressions naturally frowned as the conversation went this far. And along with that, it was admirable to see Aria still defending her father.

It was expected, but while the professors born after Aria had such reactions, Aria, who had experienced that Father person first, still loved her father.

How strong that heart was could be understood even without seeing it, so their frowned expressions became even more distorted.

And as they were making sad faces at the miserable imagination of the past that naturally came to mind, Aria’s voice began to be heard again from outside the barrier.

<Still, I can’t let you go. If you’re going to go… you should be prepared to really clash.>

Aria gently pushed aside Yujia who had been blocking her and showed the remaining knife to Yeonhwa and Kama standing in front of the door.

She must have gone through quite a long time of deliberation, as anger and sadness were mixed and spread on Aria’s face.

However, even so, Yeonhwa, who had clashed with Aria from the beginning, and Kama, who had been chewing on the emotion of hatred like gall for a long time, were not going to back down.

<I thought you’d say that.>

<You’re quite stubborn, big sister Aria.>

Yeonhwa drew the kitchen knife she had hung at her waist, and Kama took out the bow she had hung on her back.

<I don’t like fighting…>

And Meiyel also walked to Aria’s side and raised her staff.

<Um, everyone, why don’t we calm down first and try to resolve this through conversation again…>

Yujia, who was still maintaining a neutral position, tried to somehow persuade the four with words, but it wasn’t going to be simple.

Before Yujia’s words were finished, the four gradually drew up their magic power as if telling her to stay out of it.

Because each individual was strong enough to overturn the earth and split the sky, just by drawing up their magic power, the surrounding air was dyed with the color of each one’s magic and gradually vibrated.

And at this, the five swallowed empty breaths at the sight of the four that they had never seen before, whether at the academy or on the Sky Island.

Even though they were standing with just one barrier as a wall, the surrounding air seemed to choke them, making it hard to breathe. That’s how intense the pressure of magic power and momentum was.

Immediately after, the four’s magic power, which had been gradually expanding its domain, encroached on the air and reached just before the point of contact, and just as the magic was about to collide with each other.

Clap────!!!

<Please let’s resolve this through conversation… If we fight here, it’s obvious that we’ll all get hurt badly, house and everything.>

Yujia’s clapping sound that could tear eardrums disrupted the four’s magic power.

The sound of clapping produced by palms colliding at a speed invisible to the eye. At that very familiar clapping, Arin, Kana, and Riana shouted simultaneously.

“That’s…!”

“It’s the neutralization technique Professor Yujia showed us before. I can’t believe we’re seeing it here.”

“The barrier seems to have blocked the sound…”

Normally their ears should have gone deaf, but fortunately, the barrier seemed to have blocked Yujia’s clapping sound.

Therefore, the three marveled at seeing the neutralization technique used directly by herself after a long time, and amidst those sounds of admiration, Yujia, who had clapped, seemed to decide not to hold back her anger anymore as she pressed her head firmly and raised her voice.

<Really, big sister Aria! And you guys! Have you forgotten what we promised when we swore to become a family?! The most important thing among them! Never to fight among family members!!>

Yujia burst out her voice as if she had truly been holding it in for a long time.

Having accumulated a lot while just trying to stop them, Yujia didn’t end with just shouting once, but continued to shout while putting her hands on her waist.

No, she tried to shout.

<Ugh… my ears…>

<Big sister Yujia, please control yourself…! Ah…>

<I should have just kept sleeping…>

<Damn… that damn Yujia sis…>

<Eh, eh? Ah, aaaaah!! Sorry! I’m sorry!!!>

The four were rolling on the floor holding their ears due to the recoil of the full-power neutralization.

Seeing the four like that, Yujia ran to them shouting apologies instead of the scolding she had been about to say, and it was a little while later that this situation returned to normal.